GOVERNOR LAMONT ANNOUNCES SECRETARY MELISSA MCCAW TO DEPART THE OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that Melissa McCaw, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), has accepted a position with the Town of East Hartford and will depart the Lamont administration on March 11, 2022.
McCaw has served as OPM secretary, Connecticut’s top budget and policy official, since January 2019. She will assume the role of finance director for the Town of East Hartford, where she will work directly with Mayor Mike Walsh to plan and execute annual city budgets, identify strategic goals towards economic development and vitality, and invest in municipal services.
“The past few years have seen an extraordinary turnaround and I am proud of the work we have done together,” Governor Lamont said. “Melissa McCaw is smart and talented, and she has worked with me to restore fiscal sanity to our state, resulting in billions in budget surpluses and a record rainy day fund. She made history as the first woman of color to serve as OPM secretary and has been an advocate for the people of Connecticut. I thank her for her service and wish her nothing but the best in all her future endeavors.”
“I am so proud of all the work we have done together over the last three years – we have accomplished so much for our taxpayers and citizens,” Secretary McCaw said. “I am so grateful to Governor Lamont for his faith in me and for giving me the opportunity to be part of this team and make a difference for our state. We have weathered the pandemic, expanded services, maintained a budget surplus, invested in critical programmatic areas, and paid down our pension liabilities by nearly $2 billion over our annual payments generally without raising taxes. Now, we are in a very strong fiscal position and poised to offer tax relief to Connecticut residents and especially seniors. I am going to miss this work and our great team at the Office of Policy and Management, but I am very excited to start a new role helping to strengthen the municipal finances and town of East Hartford and work with Mayor Walsh, who was an outstanding colleague and partner when I recruited him to join me at OPM as undersecretary of strategic affairs. Mayor Mike is a rare talent, and I am excited to support him in his new role. We are committed to balancing budgets, long-term sustainability, freeing up resources for community investment, and fostering economic development and revitalization. This will be an exciting and rewarding new chapter.”
“I am thrilled to bring a public finance rock star like Melissa McCaw to join our team as finance director for our town,” Mayor Walsh said. “Melissa brings unmatched expertise in managing budgets and reducing debt with a crystal-clear commitment to public policies that invest in infrastructure, improve our public schools, and build the kind of economic climate that helps our entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, and create the jobs of today and tomorrow. I cannot think of a better professional more well suited than Secretary McCaw to help guide our town’s budgets into the future as we position ourselves to help sustain the Hartford region as an economic powerhouse.”
Candidate for Governor Bob Stefanowski replied:
